We have all heard about the The Secret...well, since this has been brought into light, the lives of many have been drastically changed. On Oprah, the original author of this concept was a guest on her show. Her name is Louise Hay, and she wrote a book called ‘You Can Heal Your Life’.

She wrote this international best seller 24 years ago and since has seen this change the lives of so many. There were two more guests who spoke about the power of your thoughts and of making lists.

Now the reason I bring this up is because this makes such a dramatic difference in your life and the success of your business.

You and I have the power to bring good into our lives by changing your thinking. Louise Hay was thrilled when The Secret came out last year, happy to know that everyone will have the chance to apply this into their lives.

This power can work not only in big ways, but in many little ways. Oprah shared an experience she had last month when a Bubble Blower came on her show…she thought she she would love to go blow bubbles with her god-daughter and needed to get some bubbles. She went up to her office, and next to her desk was a bag with 6 bottles of bubbles and a silver bubble blower from Tiffany’s. She asked her assistant if she had gone out and bought these bubbles for her. Her assistant replied “No, I bought those for your birthday, and they have always been there, you just have never noticed them before today.” Oprah was stunned! She couldn’t believe that these bubbles had been there this entire time, but because she had not thought of them until now, she had never noticed them.

We, you and I, can really change our lives with our thoughts. We become what we think about, whether we want it or not. You need to first start off with positive affirmations, and this is the foundation that you build upon. If you are always talking negatively to or about yourself, how can you bring anything positive into your life? How can you be successful in your business if you think of yourself as a failure? You need to love life and know that life loves you in return.

Affirmations are like planting a seed, you give it a chance to grow, it may take time, but it will grow if your nourish it. This is too where making goals and lists, writing out your desires of where you want to be is so important. You are reinforcing this in your mind, you are making it concrete in your consciousness.

They talked about making lists, some made out of fear…’the shallows’, and then the list that comes from our heart. This does not work if you are desiring things from the ‘shallows’, but things that are of real value. An example they used was King Midas…he wanted gold to make him rich, but he soon learned, after his wife and child were turned to gold, that all he really wanted to love and happiness. If he had asked that in the first place, he would have that plus the gold.

I just wanted to share this with you, it has reinforced the role of positive thinking in my own life and I know it will help you as well.

How can you benefit and get the most out of SMM (Social Media Marketing)? You find tips and tricks all over the Internet and I came across a blog, netbusinessblog that covers this topic beautifully. According to this writer, there is a one and only secret to using SMM properly. He first states…

The Problem:

The problem is by the ways SMM is being used. There are a lot of articles voicing the benefits but very little on how to use it properly. There was an analysis done by Gary Ruplinger on the SEO side of PR back-links, getting instant exposure, and the potential for viral marketing success overnight. If you set out playing this game without knowing what you need to do, you may end up hurting your reputation.

The Solution:

The only way to make use of SMM is by really participating in the community. Become a real contributor, using the services offered the way they are meant to be used. This is the key, become a member of the community you want to be known in.

Do you want to make the frontpage of Digg? Then do it buy building your reputation with good stories and content. The same goes for Reddit with your articles, or YouTube with your videos. Submit your best and your name will be known, coming up through the ranks, all built upon your honest and sincere reputation and contributions.

By taking the shortcuts, you won’t make it. You need to be actively engaged in the community, become a genuine user. Don’t try to play games with people, eventually they will see through it. Remember, Social Media is done by using it, becoming a part of it.

How To Do It:

*Do you want to gain a reputation on Digg?

Then submit some great stories, and vote on the stories you like.

*Do you want people to go to your MyBlogLog?

Visit their blogs, if you like what you see, let them know, join their community.

These are simple questions with even simpler answers. You need to dive into these social media site and learn how to use them. You cannot go into the social media with the mindset of what you can gain from it, you need to know how to use it and enjoy it. Then you will naturally build a good reputation, gain some new readers, and be the winner in the end.

I have had people ask me how you setup Aweber with Feedburner, so I decided to write a Step-by-Step post on how to do it but first lets quickly review why you should do it:

Why Use Aweber with Feedburner:

* Scheduling – Aweber allows you to choose the time and how often (day, week, month) to send out your blog broadcasts
* Designs – You can design your template for your blog broadcasts
* Post Count – You can setup how many new posts before it sends an email with a link to all the posts
* Build a List – You can email your newly established and growing list about anything at any time
* Can-Spam Compliant – There is a link in every email for a subscriber to be removed, fast & easy, so good for your readers
* Now Counts Towards Feedburner Count – Better Than RSS subscribers as it counts them every day, even if they delete the email without reading it. Having a high feed count is very good for getting advertisers, growing your blog and of course increasing your blogs value!

How To Set It Up:

It really is quite simple once you know what you are doing, but to save you some time, here is a step-by-step on how to get Aweber configured to handle your email blog subscriptions and reflect in your Feedburner counter.

First: you need to have an Aweber account, so if you don’t you should open one up. The cost is $19.95 per month.

Second: Create a new autoresponder for your blog:

Third: You click on ‘Messages’ then ‘Blog Broadcast’, from there you click ‘Create Blog Broadcast’:

Fourth: Fill out the form entering your feed, configuring your template and title. Here you also choose how many posts are made before it sends, I have mine set to 2. Also, click on ‘Automatically deliver’ so that it starts sending without you needing to log into Aweber and approve it first each time. (maybe leave it manual for the first few to get the design right):

Fifth: Save your settings then go to ‘List Settings’ and then click on ‘Web Form’. Setup a form and then confirm it. (maybe only use email if you don’t want first name. On my email feed I have first name configured too. Then update setting’s and click on ‘html’. Take the html and paste it into the site where you want to have your form:

Sixth: Your site is now ready to grow you a list with Aweber and communicate your subscribers stats via feedburner. The next thing to do is configure your thank you pages and also the personal email sent for the member to confirm.

To see how you can set it up, why not sign up to my email update service and see how I have done it.

Wow! A whole week has gone since I last wrote my first ever Sunday Summary – It honestly only feels like a day!

Personal Update:

Personally this week I have been focusing on getting back into gym and watching my diet. Being a marketer we do tend to not focus on this aspect as much as we should, so this week a conscious decision was made to get focused again on the ‘healthy lifestyle’.

I also went to go and see a live performance of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ which was wonderful. I saw it in London before but Brisbane did a pretty good job too!

This week I also focused on my business ventures (as I do every week) and am happy with the way things are progressing, a little slowly for mine, but then again, I have always been a bit impatient (not a great quality to poses). I also spent time reading and learning Forex ins-and-outs because, well, it’s one thing to make the money, its another thing to leverage that money to good use. I have a stake in property already, so looking to expand and diversify my portfolio a bit. I will keep you updated on how that progresses.

In Other News:

Last week I covered microsofts bid for yahoo, well it looks like it might be costing them. Techcrunch covered the story which omits the fact that all tech stocks are doing it rough at the moment but it does seem Microsoft investors (a few of them at least) are ‘jumping ship‘.

Ebook Launch:

This week was the very soft launch of my ebook. I am still revising the additions and improving it, but so far have had very good feedback!

You can check it out at: www.ViralMarketingManuscript.com – As I do new revisions and updates, you will be sent them via email included in the purchase price.

There is a new generation coming in the forefront of entrepreneurship. The generation born between 1977 and 1994 are well on their way to becoming the most entrepreneurial generation in history…why? The people born during that time were taking their baby steps when we were first entering the first true entrepreneurial decade. They watched and learned as their parents were restructuring from the life of Corporate living; they have the boom of technology growing with them. This was a time of great change.

There was a study done by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor that showed people from the ages of 18 to 24 years in the US are starting their own businesses at a rate faster than those between the ages of 35 to 44 years of age, and they are getting rich! College campuses are a fertile breeding ground for innovation and builders of new companies, inventors, leaders, they are growing in number daily.

Jeff Cornwall of the Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. said “Forty percent or more of students who come into our undergraduate entrepreneurship program as freshmen already have a business, It’s a whole new world.”

The up and coming stars that are on INC.’s “30 under 30” list for the year 2007 would also agree to the above statement. They state that there are a few high school startups, and even more in the college dorm rooms…business racking up revenue in the tens of millions, then there are others who are just starting to see success, nevertheless, they will see it.

You who are reading this blog, and people like me, are those to drive success. We are the future here, we are the “E” generation…there is no reason for sitting back and watching everyone else succeed. We are the generation that can really make a difference. YOU can make the difference. Talk to your friends, ask them what their plans are…most of them will say they want to start their own business.

There is one particular characteristic that defines the “E” generation, which was discovered in a recent survey by OPEN from American Express. They compared our E generation and the baby-boomer entrepreneurs. 59 % of the E generation business owners referred to themselves as serial entrepreneurs, as to only 33% of the baby boomers. Could this be the attitude about risk? Generation E is polled at 72% being risk takers, and actually enjoying taking risks, where the older generation show only 53% of being risk takers.

Some may say this is a pipe dream, but then that is where the risk comes in. In addition, it is also much easier for a 22 year old to start a business of their own, than someone who is in their 50’s, which has financial obligations such as a mortgage, college tuition for children, and caught in the life that they have always lived. I am not saying that if you are in your 50’s you can’t become an entrepreneur, I am saying the majority are the younger generation. There are many more than you would ever realize that are gaining great success in this venue, and you can do it too!

Stick around; you will continue to learn how to be one of the successful Generations “E”. I will help you get there.